Player Marques Bolden

[DurhamSon]

He got 3 rebounds. It's sad that that's notable.

As many as AOC and Goldwire. Though to be fair to them, they didn't play as many minutes as MB

His 6 turnovers do beat the combined efforts of AOC and Goldwire, however.

I'm refreshing Pomeroy more to see his ORTG than Duke's slip on the defensive ratings. 6 TOs out of 9 touches has to be some kind of Duke record.

 

[DurhamSon]

He got 3 rebounds. It's sad that that's notable.

As many as AOC and Goldwire. Though to be fair to them, they didn't play as many minutes as MB

His 6 turnovers do beat the combined efforts of AOC and Goldwire, however.

I'm refreshing Pomeroy more to see his ORTG than Duke's slip on the defensive ratings. 6 TOs out of 9 touches has to be some kind of Duke record.

48 rtg. 2nd worst by a Duke player all season. Probably the worst when you take into account level of competition.

 

[Pantone287]

He's so mentally fragile. He was doing everything perfectly again for his first few possessions, then got lost on a defensive possession, after which he was an unmitigated disaster.

You could just see his brain panic and start repeating "I'm a big dumb idiot who has no idea what he's doing out here". He's like the only player ever where K's verve/strong face bullshit actually seems more relevant than anything tactical.

 

[skins]

DOUBLE DOUBLE

 

[torontoduke]

He has such a hard time gathering himself to make a move.

In any case - happy for his career night. Exactly what the doctor ordered.

 

[DurhamSon]

NEC legend

 

[skins]

Bolden just skullfucking SFU and @DurhamSon to get his OEff up to 109.9. Lol doubters.

 

[rome8180]

The numbers don't lie. #betterthanCarter

 

[Pantone287]

I thought he responded really well to getting punked by the bottom of the backboard early on. True competitors never back down from a challenge.

 

[torontoduke]

He also overcame the rim on a dunk attempt.

 

[physicsfactor]

He has such a hard time gathering himself to make a move.

Excellent observation. It's just excruciating to watch. Every time I'm sitting there screaming in my head, "Just grab the ball and fucking go to the rim!!" He's so weak shooting through contact for a guy his size. He ought to be able to power through most college bigs.

 

[aiw]

His arms are bigger than his opponent’s legs, yet still so weak..

 

[slswofford3]

He got his points tonight, so good on him, but its like watching someone trek through quicksand when he gets the ball and thinks everything out so slowly. He is in his own head so much you can totally read "ok im gonna put this foot here, maybe dribble here.. or here ok, try to move this guy a little bit, say a prayer and sling this round bouncy thing at the round clangy thing... ah, damn."

I don't understand how someone can go up against Carter every day and see how much he attacks and not learn anything from it. Way too big to be so soft.

 

[LastHearth]

I don't think it's as much soft as that he just doesn't have explosiveness in his legs. He needs to gather himself to jump.

 

[Pantone287]

I love how excited Javin is for him whenever he does anything, by the way. He's like his life coach, or big brother to a special needs kid.

I do kind of feel bad for my boy, though. You can tell he knows he's disappointingly bad for who he is/was supposed to be. When he's in with the scrubs and finishes an and-1 over a 6'3 guy after his fifth try and everyone goes crazy, you can just see the shame in his face.

 

[rome8180]

He's just not very much of a leaper. I think he brings the ball down in order to gain momentum for his jump, like LastHearth said.

The interesting thing is how quick he is laterally and how nimble his defensive footwork is. Our best defender in space, imo. A big contrast from his molasses-slow post play.

 

[rome8180]

Coach K took some more shots at his motor, btw:

“I can see good and bad in practice. We’re going to get too minute here in what I see and what I don’t see. No, it’s not a breakout, he’s a good player, he should play well every game. I wouldn’t call a 50-point win over this team as a breakout for anybody. But did he play well? He played well. Marques has helped us, we wouldn’t have won the Indiana game without Marques diving for the damn ball. To me, that was more of a breakout. And I have not seen him do that in practice and those are the type of things that we’re looking for, guys trying to do whatever they can to help us win.”

 

[rome8180]

Moral of the story: just dive for balls in practice if you want playing time. Maybe that was Josh Hairston's secret, or maybe he just confused the basketball with a corn dog and dove for that.

Hopefully, Jordan Tucker read that quote.

 

[Pantone287]

"I wouldn’t call a 50-point win over this team as a breakout for anybody" is about as savage of an indictment of an opponent as I've ever seen from K.

Also, lol @ us not winning at Indiana if not for Bolden diving for that loose ball. We got zero points from that play, and I'm pretty sure they were the next team to score. Not exactly a gamebreaking moment.

 

[Slap the Floor]

Coach K took some more shots at his motor, btw:

“I can see good and bad in practice. We’re going to get too minute here in what I see and what I don’t see. No, it’s not a breakout, he’s a good player, he should play well every game. I wouldn’t call a 50-point win over this team as a breakout for anybody. But did he play well? He played well. Marques has helped us, we wouldn’t have won the Indiana game without Marques diving for the damn ball. To me, that was more of a breakout. And I have not seen him do that in practice and those are the type of things that we’re looking for, guys trying to do whatever they can to help us win.”

I like this version of Coach K.